Dealers and Service Managers can expect to get exactly what they pay for when it comes to incentives and/or bonuses for their Service Managers and Advisors. This is both good and bad because when an Advisor is in a position to make a decision between two services that need to be sold, he or she will sell the incentivized service even if another service or repair (excluding real safety issues) is in the customer’s best interest. Here’s an example:

Dealer A has a big incentive for "flushes". A vehicle is checked and it is determined that it needs ball joints, an alignment, and a transmission flush. Even though the ball joints and the alignment will net more to the dealership, and the potential wear on tires will cost the customer in the long run, you can almost count on only the flush being sold, especially if the customer hints that they can’t get it all done right now.

There are thousands of pay plans, incentive programs and bonus structures out there, all of which have some merit, but the fact of the matter is that very few actually hit the target dead center.

The thing to remember is that in our Service Operations we are selling time and nothing more. Don’t cloud the picture with various "specific" pay plan strategies. Simply structure your pay plans so that Managers and Advisors are committed to selling more time, and you’ll make more money and have happier customers.

For more information on how Auto University can customize a structure for your operation, click here.